Yamaha RX-V373

[bolle419]

I am trying to see if this system will play a True-HD soundtrack, but the display only reads Dolby Digital? Does anyone know if this receiver displays True-HD or DTS-HD on its display to know if it's decoded properly?

Thanks!

 

[Adam]

I took a look through the manual and images online, but I didn't find anything. Sorry.

What are you using as your source - a blu-ray player? You'll want to make sure that the source is set up to output TrueHD. Sometimes they'll decode it internally to Dolby Digital for receivers that can't handle TrueHD.

 

[bolle419]

I am playing it through my Sony bdp-s300 which says it decodes tru HD. I am playing the matrix blu ray and it only shows Dolby digital on the receiver. I just want to know if its actually decoding properly.

 

[Adam]

I am playing it through my Sony bdp-s300 which says it decodes tru HD. I am playing the matrix blu ray and it only shows Dolby digital on the receiver. I just want to know if its actually decoding properly.

Gotcha. If you haven't already, check if the Matrix audio track is set to TrueHD. Sometimes the default track is Dolby Digital, and you have to change it.

 

[bolle419]

I did set that and the display didn't change. I think it would be weird for the receiver to not display what it's decoding. I was hoping others would have this question or problem.

 

[Adam]

And you have the two connected with an HDMI cable? I hope that my troubleshooting isn't annoying...I know that your question is about the receiver decoding a TrueHD signal and displaying that. Because I assume that it will display it on its front panel, I'm trying to make sure that it's actually getting a TrueHD signal.

 

[Pyrrho]

First things first. Do you have the BD player hooked up to the receiver via HDMI? If not, then you cannot get Dolby TruHD. Second, if your BD player is set up to decode Dolby TruHD, then the receiver will not display Dolby TruHD, because the BD player will have decoded it and changed it into something else. Make sure the BD player is set to just pass whatever audio there is on to the receiver undecoded.

 

[Adam]

Okay, I believe that I figured it out. I finally took a look at the Sony BDP-S300 manual. It won't output TrueHD or DTS-HD in bitstream form. It will decode them internally, though. If you set the HDMI audio output on the Sony to "Auto", then you'll get Dolby Digital. If you set HDMI audio output to "PCM", then you'll get 5.1 channel linear PCM from it's internal decoder.

So, with that blu-ray player, you won't ever see TrueHD or DTS-HD on your Yamaha display.

 

[bolle419]

Thanks so so much! What do you recommend I set it to? Auto or PCM? You have been a tremendous help.

 

[Adam]

Thanks so so much! What do you recommend I set it to? Auto or PCM? You have been a tremendous help.

I'm glad that I could help! I recommend that you try both settings and see what you like the best. If you set it to PCM, then the Sony will be doing the decoding for everything (not just TrueHD) and sending it to the receiver as PCM. That's not necessarily good or bad, just a comment. I'm guessing that the decoders in the Yamaha and Sony are really similar for the older codecs (like Dolby Digital), so it probably won't make a difference. However, it's always best to try it out for yourself and decide if you like one setting better than the other.

EDIT: The above is if you're using an HDMI cable between the two. If you are using either the optical or digital coax, then leave it on "Bitstream" because it will downmix audio to two-channel audio over those connections. That's all covered on page 48 of the Sony owners manual.

 

[bolle419]

Ok thank you. Yes I am using HDMI for my audio as well.

 

[Pyrrho]

Thanks so so much! What do you recommend I set it to? Auto or PCM? You have been a tremendous help.

You should definitely use PCM. Converting it to PCM does not degrade the signal, but converting it to ordinary Dolby Digital throws away data (because ordinary Dolby Digital uses compression that throws away data).

 

[Grador]

You should definitely use PCM. Converting it to PCM does not degrade the signal, but converting it to ordinary Dolby Digital throws away data (because ordinary Dolby Digital uses compression that throws away data).

Agreed, PCM is the correct answer. If your bluray player does everything right there should be absolutely no difference between your receiver getting the PCM signal vs the True-HD signal. With it set to Auto (and converting to DD) you're limited to DD quality.

 

[bolle419]

In my audio setup menu on the blu ray player it gives me options for Dolby digital dts and dts down mix PCM? Actually the dts downmix options are stereo or lt/rt? Any suggestions on what to set those at? Thanks so much to all of you.

 

[Adam]

In my audio setup menu on the blu ray player it gives me options for Dolby digital dts and dts down mix PCM? Actually the dts downmix options are stereo or lt/rt? Any suggestions on what to set those at? Thanks so much to all of you.

Luckily, you don't need to decide because you are using the HDMI connection. Those settings only apply to the optical and digital coax connection. If it were me, though, I'd leave those on "Dolby Digital" and "DTS" just in case you decide to use those connections in the future (or someone else does) and forget about those settings.